


An Accidental Discovery

by Burgie



Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-25
Updated: 2019-06-25
Packaged: 2020-05-19 08:01:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19352830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: Jenna gives some advice to Louisa on how to deal with Loretta. But, upon trying it, Louisa discovers something else. Something... new.





	An Accidental Discovery

Most of the things that Louisa had come across since moving to Moorland had been nice. Most of them. The local riding club, though… left a lot to be desired. Jenna had introduced the new group to the Bobcatz as part of her introductory tour of the area. Knowing the residents, she’d said, was just as important as knowing the surrounding land in a place like this. One would do well to make friends with the locals, and Louisa was trying to. She was at least being friendly, which was more than she could say for some of the other people here. Already, a few snobs stood out, and Louisa made it her mission in life to ignore them and avoid them if at all possible. She’d learned that lesson the hard way in high school, and at the handful of horse shows that she’d attended growing up.

Loretta, the leader of the Bobcatz, was the biggest snob of all. Oh, sure, she’d been nice as pie when Jenna had introduced the new batch of recruits to the Summer Camp, promising that she’d do everything she could to make things easier and more comfortable for the newbies. But Louisa, at the back of the group, had heard Loretta’s snide comments to her best friend Tan.

“Ugh, more newbies to wreck our tracks,” Loretta had scoffed, giving a roll of her blue eyes. “Just what we needed. We’ve got that competition with the Bulldogz coming up, doesn’t Jenna get that? But whatever. They’d better stay away from Justin, though.”

Now, Louisa’s heart beat faster whenever she caught a flash of pink. If someone could talk behind her back like that, what did that say for the club that she led? Maybe they were all just as bad as their leader, or reporting back to her. Louisa wasn’t sure what she could do without worrying about one of Loretta’s cronies seeing and reporting back to her. She didn’t dare do anything risky lest she make a mistake, nor did she want to spend too much time with the male campers. Even if some of them did seem nice enough, like Viktor and Daine. But she didn’t want rumours to start circulating that she was interested in them romantically.

There was one thing that Louisa could do that wouldn’t mean bumping into any of the Bobcatz, though. When she was in the saddle on Goldmist’s back, the road ahead of her and the stable behind her, she felt like she could do anything. She was even making much better times on the riding tracks in the area, though Loretta was still somewhat of a bitch about it. Louisa had to fight the urge to glare or snap back at those backhanded compliments. Tan was a little better about it, and the rest of the Bobcatz knew to stay out of it altogether. But it hurt, not having anyone to defend her.

“Are you okay?” Jenna asked, finding Louisa sitting on her own at one of the picnic tables on the beach. Louisa almost jumped out of her skin at the sudden appearance of the stable’s co-owner.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine,” said Louisa, her hand immediately going to a strand of her brown hair that had fallen free of its braid.

“You look like Kiwi when a dog’s around,” said Jenna with a knowing smile, referring to the little white barn cat with its bicoloured eyes. Louisa loved it, often spending time with the little kitty. 

“Is it that obvious?” Louisa asked. Jenna nodded.

“Is Loretta giving you a hard time?” Jenna asked. Louisa was amazed at how someone who apparently didn’t have children could be so motherly. She was made for this job.

“How did you know?” Louisa asked, her shoulders sagging.

“It wouldn’t be the first time,” said Jenna with a sigh. “Nor will it be the last, I’m sure. I did tell her to tone it down, though. As did Thomas. Multiple times. He even tried bribing her with a new clubhouse. Not that we have the funds to build it…” She suddenly looked up at Louisa. “I didn’t say that.”

“I won’t say a word,” said Louisa. “I’m sure I’ll get over it, I did with those kinds of people I met in school and in the equestrian community back home.”

“I wish I knew how to make her stop for good,” said Jenna. She shrugged. “I just don’t know how. Maybe you could try being better than her.”

“I’ve been trying that,” said Louisa. “Trying to be the bigger person by not reacting to her. But sometimes it just gets so stressful that I almost snap at her and then I’d feel bad because she’s younger than me.”

“Oh, I didn’t mean it like that,” said Jenna with a laugh. “I meant it literally.”

“What do you mean?” Louisa asked. “I know she does dressage but I don’t. Unless somewhere around here does trail class…”

“She only wishes she could do dressage here,” said Jenna. “That’s all up in Beauvista. Most of Moorland, and Silverglade as well, really, is focused on cross country races with a few jumping and western ones thrown in there.”

“Wait, there are multiple western races?” Louisa asked. She only knew about the one that Josh ran and that weird one up at the circus where it looked like the poles were made of fire.

“You really do need to get out more,” said Jenna, smiling fondly at her. “Once you’re comfortable with it, anyway. Why don’t you gather up a group of people and go try out all of the races in the area? It helps train your horse, too.”

“I’ll start asking around,” said Louisa, nodding. “But I think I’ll try getting better on the races around here, too. See if I can beat my best time, and then Loretta’s.” It would definitely be a victory over Loretta, no matter how petty.

“Attagirl,” said Jenna, clapping her on the shoulder. “Now, go out there and show those racetracks who’s boss.”

“I will,” said Louisa, giving her a grin. She was already feeling better, just from a little chat with Jenna. It was amazing, the way that talking to someone understanding could help sometimes.

Leaving the beach, Louisa fetched Goldie from his stall and rode him out to where Loretta stood outside of the main paddock used by the Bobcatz. She almost looked like she was guarding it, but maybe that was all in Louisa’s head. Loretta’s sneer, though, fell away quickly but Louisa still saw it.

“Back to try out our track again?” Loretta asked. Louisa resisted the urge to glare at her, though she did frown.

“It’s a nice track,” said Louisa. Loretta snorted, disguising it as a cough, and, as Louisa lined up with Goldie, she heard Loretta mutter something to Tan about how she was probably only going up there to ogle Ydris like everyone else. As if Ydris could be anywhere near as good as Justin, Loretta said. Though, she did also often say that it was good to not have competition for Justin anymore.

But, as Goldie built up speed, Louisa felt her stress fall away as the stable disappeared behind her. The road passed under Goldie’s ears at a steady clip, from Louisa’s point of view, and she felt the seconds fly by.

The wooded area was where Louisa usually excelled, being reminded of the cross country courses that she’d ridden back home with Westie. That and the smell was amazing. Louisa almost closed her eyes, but they flew back open at the sight of pink.

Any confidence and happiness that had built up during the ride suddenly vanished, and Louisa felt like someone who didn’t know what she was doing. It was just one pink-coated Bobcat Girl in the abandoned farm, yet Louisa felt like she’d seen a ghost. She gasped, and Goldie gave a whinny of alarm before pulling up hard just in time to miss colliding with a fence. Louisa hit the fence instead, upon which Goldie snuffled down at her with concern.

“You’re supposed to jump the fence,” the Bobcat Girl jeered. Louisa couldn’t help but notice that the girl didn’t come to her aid, though. Of course she didn’t.

“Bitch,” Louisa muttered, sitting up carefully. Nothing felt broken, though she had hit the wooden fence pretty hard. A bolt of pain tore up her leg from her ankle, though, making Louisa gasp in pain and lean forward to massage the sore flesh. Hopefully, it was just a sprain, which was nothing new to her. She just had to give it a good rub, then go home and put some ice on it. Maybe take some painkillers too.

Louisa hissed air through her teeth, tears springing to her eyes as she tried to massage it as carefully as possible. Belatedly, she remembered to take her boot off before her foot could swell up too much. The pain grew at the motion, and Louisa tried to cradle her foot. She wished that it felt better, that the pain would go away.

Louisa closed her eyes against the pain, and suddenly, she saw pink behind her eyelids. Not the pink of the Bobcatz’ uniform, though. This was a lighter pink, a pastel colour. It felt good, too. Her ankle was even tingling. What…?

Louisa opened her eyes, curious, and froze at what she saw. Not only was the swelling of her ankle going down, her hands were glowing that same pastel pink. The light surrounded her ankle, almost reminding her of that strange purple fog that was apparently piped into the weird butterfly course that was put on at the circus. It felt… warm. Tingly.

“What is this?” Louisa asked, looking at her pink glowing hands. She held them up to her face, Goldie looking down at her. He didn’t appear to have any answers, though.

Shakily, Louisa got to her feet, amazed that she could even stand. Her ankle felt as if it had never been sprained, not even those first few times. Slipping her boot back on, she climbed back into Goldie’s saddle and headed back towards the stable, ignoring Loretta teasing her for failing the race. There was one person that would probably know what was going on, the nice old lady who often told stories that reminded Louisa of her aunt’s stories.

When Mrs Holdsworth opened the door, her expression looked knowing.

“Ah, so the power has awoken in you, child,” said Mrs Holdsworth. Louisa wanted to ask which power she meant, but a part of her knew.

“What was that?” Louisa asked.

“I can’t tell you those answers, my child,” said Mrs Holdsworth. “But I think I know someone who can. You need to head to Valedale, and ask for Elizabeth Sunbeam. I hear she’s the one that all you young people go to nowadays for training.”

“Training?” Louisa echoed. “But I just came here to learn how to work with horses.”

“They all do,” said Mrs Holdsworth, a knowing glint in her eye and a sad smile on her face. “I wish you luck, child. Aideen watch over you.”

“That’s what Aunt Martine always says,” said Louisa, a smile tugging at her lips.

“Then perhaps Aideen has been watching over you all along,” said Mrs Holdsworth. “Do you know where you’re going?”

“Actually, I do,” said Louisa, feeling much better now. “I usually go for a ride with Goldie at sunset, Valedale was one of the first places I visited.”

“Aideen truly has been guiding you,” said Mrs Holdsworth. She muttered something that sounded like Jorvegian but also not. 

“Should I tell Thomas and Jenna where I’m going?” Louisa asked.

“The druids will tell them,” said Mrs Holdsworth. “You just worry about getting there.”

As Louisa nodded and rode off up the road that she’d taken that first evening, she heard Mrs Holdsworth mutter something about how she hoped that Aideen knew what she was doing this time. Louisa just hoped that she wasn’t leaving Moorland behind for the last time, pink-wearing Bobcatz or not.


End file.
